Summary The objective of this research is to develop a laser-based method of analysis into a point-of-care blood diagnostic to detect blood infected by viruses, bacteria, and parasites. Such an instrument will not require highly specialized training and will provide rapid identification of the contamination once a blood sample is introduced for analysis. Preliminary investigations in partnership with the FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research and TriCore Reference Laboratories indicates that Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) combined with advanced mathematical and statistical analysis techniques has this potential. The work being proposed is to extend these investigations to better understand the spectroscopic signals contributing to the differentiation of Herpes Simplex Virus, HIV, Staphylococcus aureus, and Trypanosoma cruzi in human blood and means of enhancing these signals to build a reliable detection algorithm deployable on instrument for point-of-care diagnosis.